Venturing to Israel to witness locations only heard and read about over the course of decades was a trip of a lifetime. We spent a little over a week with an itinerary chock full of experiences to remember. Here are our top recommendations for what to see and do. We visited the sites with two guides in order to get two perspectives, one from the Christian side and the other from the Jewish perspective. This itinerary takes you in a circular route and follows this order:
1. Visit the Wilderness of Zin, Ein Avdat, for a desert hike that affords spectacular views; ride a camel and then enjoy lunch at a Bedouin camp.
2. Visit the Dead Sea, -1270 feet in elevation, for a relaxing swim. The views from our hotel, The Daniel Herzliya, were amazing.
3. Make your way to Masada, the desert fortress, and take the tram to see King Herod’s palace.
4. Learn about “living water” versus “dead water” at Ein Gedi, the location where David hid from King Saul.
5. From Ein Gedi, venture to Qumran, the cave where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. You will also get information about the Essenes who lived in the region.
6. Make your way to Beit She’an, a Roman town to see the amphitheater and meander through the ruins. Walk to the top of the tel, a location where ancient villages were built one on top of the other over centuries.
7. Visit the Golan Heights to see Gamla Nature Reserve.
8. Drive to the Valley of Tears Battlefield to see the remnants of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. We could even see into Syria, passing spots where war was evident with tanks, cannons, mine fields, and signs warning of possible explosives.
9. Caesarea Philippi is the location where a spring exists that is one of the sources of the Jordan River. Dating from the third century BC, it was believed to be the home of the Greek god Pan, and there are many pagan symbols to see. Around the 1st Century BC, Herod built a temple here and named it for the Roman Emperor Augustus.
10. Drive to Tel Dan and visit the ruins that are roughly 4000 years old. See Abraham’s Gate!
11.Hike up the Mount of Beatitudes where Jesus gave his Sermon on the Mount.
12. Venture to Capernaum to visit The Church of the Primacy of Peter where Jesus appeared to some of his disciplines. Take a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee.
13. Visit Yigal Allon Museum that has on exhibit an ancient fishing boat from the 1st Century. We saw archeological excavations of two ancient synagogues built one over the other. A house turned into a church by the Byzantines is believed to have been the home of Saint Peter.
14. Go to Magdala, an ancient Jewish city on the shore of the Sea of Galilee where Mary Magdalene was born.
15. Proceed to the Jordan River at Yardenit to be baptized. This is where Jesus is said to be baptized.
16. Drive to Nazareth, Jesus’s hometown and see the Mount of Precipice.
17. Then, go to Megiddo, an enormous ancient tel to see a 5000-year-old altar and a view of the Valley of Armageddon. Megiddo is roughly 7000 years old.
18. Visit Bethlehem and tour The Church of the Nativity and the cave underneath where Jesus was born.
19. Shop at the Old Jerusalem Market and walk the four quarters–Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Armenian.
20. Put a prayer in the Western Wall or Wailing Wall and view The Temple Mount, built in approximately 1000 BC.
21. Visit Hezekiah’s Tunnel. At the end of Hezekiah’s Tunnel is The Pool of Siloam, the site of one of Jesus’ miracles—where he covered the blind man’s eyes with mud and repaired his sight.
22. Make sure to spend time at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust History Museum, one of the top museums in world. The museum takes visitors on a journey, and by the end, it offers a message of hope and resilience.
23. Go to Mount of Olives. There are incredible views of Old Jerusalem, including the Dome of the Rock. We learned that Jesus started from the Mount of Olives as he came into Jerusalem from Bethany for Passover. This would be his last time going to Jerusalem.
24. Hike down to the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed after the Last Supper before being captured by the Romans. Walk through The Lion’s Gate, entering Old Jerusalem and follow the Via Dolorosa, the pathway Jesus walked to his death carrying the cross.
25. Go to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, built on the site that many Christians believe Jesus’ crucifixion and burial took place.
Then, go to Golgotha, the site of The Garden Tomb. This is where others believe that Jesus was crucified and buried. In Golgotha you can see The Place of the Skull, which some believe marks the site of the crucifixion.
